A Stolen Moment
by emaline5678
Summary: This takes place during Forever Charmed. I was always bummed that they never showed a real PiperLeo reunion when Leo came back. I mean, sure there was drama going on, but they could have given us more fluff. Set before PL go to Victor's.


A Stolen Moment

_Sadly, I don't own "Charmed". I just love using it's characters. It's all in love people! _

_This fan fic takes place during "Forever Charmed". I thought it was unfair that we didn't really have a Piper/Leo reunion moment. I mean, sure Phoebe and Paige were dead, but this was Piper's love – they had to have a moment. This is just a little hidden moment that occurs before Piper and Leo head to Victor's. Major Piper and Leo. _

Night draped it's black, deathly calm over the city of San Francisco. Though the city seemed subdued, something sinister rumbled in the air. It was as if every citizen could smell the awful stench of death around them – as if they could feel the cold embrace of evil around their shoulders.

Fire trucks and ambulances converged with frightening speed onto a burning house on Prescott Street. The flames tickled high towards the stars as neighbors stared in horror at the burning remains. The house was a ruined mess – a shell of life that had once held such happy, good people. No one could have survived such a fiery inferno.

Yet, halfway across town, one person _had _survived the battle at the Halliwell manor. Piper, the eldest sister witch, sat bruised and angry in a chair in her sister Phoebe's loft. Manically, her shaking fingers flipped through the Halliwell's antique book of magic, the Book of Shadows. She need a spell, a potion…a miracle. Her sisters, Phoebe and Paige, could _not_ be dead. It just couldn't be possible. Her mind refused to grasp the concept. It slipped through her brain as if made of lava-hot coals.

Her brown eyes furious and angry, Piper failed to notice her husband, Leo, rummaging in the loft's cupboards. Frozen by a demon, he had been taken by the Angel of Destiny to motivate the Charmed Ones to fight the Ultimate Battle.

The last thing Leo remembered before being frozen was seeing Piper's tear-stained face. That beautiful vision had stayed with him – until he woke up to the horror of the burning manor. The house – his home – his children's home – was in tattered ruins. Piper sat with a limp Phoebe cradled in her arms, tears of grief streaming down her face. What the _hell_ was going on? At least now he was back to help fix it.

After a few minutes, Leo found a bottle of alcohol and a towel. Dabbing the medicine onto the rag, he turned back to his wife. His heart broke to see her so frightened and filled with grief. The thought of life without her sisters hurt him as well, but he knew with Piper it would be a deeper, poisonous kind of pain. She had already lost one sister and Leo had almost lost Piper to her grief and anger then. He doubted she would survive the loss of her other two sisters. He just hoped he could save her this time before her pain consumed her.

"Piper, you know there's nothing in the book that can fix this," he murmured, moving to kneel by her chair. Piper shook her head.

"There has to be something. A spell, a-"

"Honey, you know there's not," Leo told her gently. Slowly, he closed the family heirloom and moved it from her lap. "The Elders can't even change what's already been done."

Leo's caring green eyes took in Piper's cuts and scrapes. He breathed an internal sigh of relief that she had made it out of that explosion alive. His heart was relieved she was alive, but it still wasn't fair. All three sisters should have survived this final battle. Damn it, didn't the family deserve to be happy for more than five seconds?

He slowly used the towel to gently clean the now dried brown blood from Piper's face. Her brown eyes met his and a thousand emotions seemed to pass between the two lovers. Her love for him burned as hot as ever, but was mixed with her angry grief over the final battle. She and Leo had always been connected on another level as soul mates. She couldn't believe she had him back by her side – inches away from her. Inside, she wished desperately that Phoebe and Paige were there to enjoy the moment with her.

"I'm sorry you had to come back to this," she murmured, tears forming like dew in her eyes. Suddenly weary, she let them fall, the salty drops cutting clean lines down her soot-stained cheeks.

"I'm just glad to be back," Leo replied.

Piper suddenly couldn't resist him any longer. She slipped off the chair and wrapped her arms around her neck. She buried her face into his neck and wept. She wept for her sisters and for Leo's return. She inhaled his scent and relished the comfort of his arms around her back.

When she had seen Phoebe's crumpled body…she thought she would lose control completely. What kind of life was there without her sisters and Leo? How could she raise her two boys alone? Yet, now Leo was back – her rock, her comfort, her anchor to earth. She clung harder to him as she cried. Slowly, she felt strength and confidence soar through her. She no longer felt like she was falling into a dark abyss of panic, grief and uncertainty. In his arms, she felt safe, warm and loved. Somehow – she knew everything would be alright. With Leo by her side, she'd find a way to make it true.

As Piper cried, Leo simply held her, letting his strength and love for her fill her. She had saved him years earlier from grief and now he would return the favor. It felt so good – so right – to hold her small body in his arms again. He closed his eyes and ran a hand through her chestnut hair. He simply loved her. He grieved with her – he longed to weep with her, but he knew he had to stay strong. They both couldn't lose control – not now. Someone had to stay strong for each other and for the boys.

Slowly, Piper's tears began to subside and her grip on Leo loosened. She pulled back a little to look up into his face. He smiled softly at her, wiping her cheeks clean of soot and tears. Her lip still quivered and he nudged it with his finger.

"I missed you so much," she whispered, moving her hands to caress his face. She couldn't take his eyes off of him. She had to keep touching him in case he abruptly was snatched away from her again.

"I never stopped loving you," he told her, tears shining in his own eyes. His forehead crinkled into a frown.

"I don't even remember much really. I don't even know how long I was frozen or what was going on around me. I only remember feeling such warm love in my heart…in my soul. I knew, on some level, it was my love for you and the boys that kept me alive in that giant ice cube. Wait – is this making any sense?"

Piper laughed, a joyous laugh that could have lit the night sky if things hadn't been so dark. Leo grinned broadly to see his wife smile again. He knew that they should be grieving, but a brief glimpse of the sun had to be a good sign for the future.

"Not at all," she giggled. She stopped as she looked back at him and remembered. "I'm just glad you're here now."

"There's no other place I'd rather –" Leo started. Before he could finish some declaration of love for Piper, she pulled his head towards her and met his lips with hers.

Piper couldn't help but moan with delight as she finally felt Leo's soft familiar mouth against hers again. His arms tightened around her and she began to run her hands through his hair.

It didn't take long for Piper to deepen the kiss. She issued a louder moan when her tongue met his in his warm, wet mouth. She had begged, longed and dreamed of this moment for months. He was her soul mate – the father of her children – and destiny had _once again_ split them apart. Now that she had him back, she wasn't about to let go. Pressing herself closer against his body, she suddenly needed to feel every inch of him. She needed to feel his strong chest against her breasts. She knew it wasn't the right time, but, God, she needed him.

"Piper, wait," Leo gasped, breaking the kiss. His breath was hot against her skin. "We can't do this now. We-"

She panted as she pressed her forehead against his neck. Slowly she nodded. Sex wouldn't stop the pain or the anger that tumbled against each other inside of her.

"I know. I just – I needed you. I needed the feel of you," Piper whispered as her breathing slowed. They still kept their arms tight around each other. Leo rubbed a hand up and down her back in understanding.

"You don't know what it's been like here without you these past few months. It's been so hard doing all this by myself."

"But you did it. Now I'm here with you again." Leo replied. He lovingly ran a hand through her hair. "Though I don't know how you became such a good kisser."

"Shut up," Piper said with a playful laugh. She slapped him gently on the chest. Her laughter stopped as she met his serious eyes.

"Where are the boys?" he asked.

"They're at Dad's."

"Piper, what – what _did_ happen tonight?" Leo asked gently. He didn't want to bring up the pain again, but he had to know. He'd been – literally – kept in the dark for far too long.

Piper looked down, grief filling her insides with ice. She didn't want to think again of Phoebe and Paige. She didn't want to think of them as gone. Just a memory of their faces brought on such waves of pain that Piper could hardly breathe.

"Why did you try to kill Billie?" Leo asked quietly. "I mean, she didn't have anything to do with this, did she?"

Piper sighed. Talking about Billie would only stoke her hatred and grief, the coals blazing into a white heat. Thinking of Billie made her only think more of her sisters, causing the fire to painfully twist in her heart. Yet, Leo had no way of knowing. That stupid backstabbing bitch would pay for killing her sisters. She just had to.

"After you – you were taken," Piper began, looking down at his reassuring hand over hers. His thumb slowly caressed the back of her hand. "Billie found her sister, Christy. Unfortunately, uh, Christy was evil and working for the Triad."

"The Triad? But I thought Cole took care of them years ago."

"Me too. Apparently they can come back. Christy took Billie on her side and together they somehow turned the entire magical community against us. We learned they were going to summon the Hollow so we decided to take it in first. Unfortunately, it turns out we all took it at the same time."

"That much magic couldn't help but destroy each other," Leo said sadly.

"Yeah," Piper agreed in a whisper. Tears choked in her throat again as she remembered the feel of Phoebe's dead body in her arms.

Leo's green eyes lovingly looked at her lowered face. He raised a hand to softly caress her cheek. She had gone through so many battles, so many wars. The scars were criss-crossed on her soul. He knew how much she still wished for a normal life. Once Leo had become mortal, he thought she'd get her wish, but was this the price? He ached to see her in such pain and longed to see her bright smile again. Yet, how could he help her fix this? Even as a whitelighter, he hadn't been able to heal the dead.

"I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you," he murmured.

Abruptly, Piper took his hand and stood. He quickly followed. A look of angry, grief-fuelled determination filled her face.

"We're not done yet, Leo," she declared. "No way in hell are we done yet."

"Piper, we can't bring back the dead. I want Phoebe and Pagie back as much as you do, but-"

"Then we'll find a way," she cried, quickly running a hand through her hair. "Somehow. Because there is no way in hell I'm going to let Evil win here."

"Piper-"

"Leo, it's ok," Piper said, smiling softly as tears filled her brown eyes. "I'll fix this. I've got you back. Now I just need to get my sisters back. Come on."

Piper slipped her hand into Leo's and gave it a comfortable squeeze. "Let's go to Dad's. We can check on the boys and - and find some kind of way to save Phoebe and Paige."

"Honey," Leo tried gently once more. "You have to remember that magic can't save everything. It couldn't save Prue."

"But this is different. It wasn't supposed to end like this." Piper cried. "It _can't_ end like this. I will find a way."

Leo looked at his wife for a long moment. Here was the feisty, strong, independent woman he fell in love with years earlier. She was stubborn as a mule sometimes, but usually she was right. He trusted her with his heart and soul. If she was determined to save her sisters, he knew he couldn't possibly stop her. Yet, there _was_ something like real hope in her words. Maybe there was a way to bring back the dead after all. Maybe there was a way to touch heaven and create their own miracle.

"Alright," he murmured with a small smile. "As long as we can find that way together."

Piper smiled crookedly up at him. "I wouldn't' have it any other way."

Squeezing his hand, she pulled him back through the door of Phoebe's loft. The night was still impossibly dark and Piper could barely see the road in front of her. Yet, somehow she knew there was a light around the corner. Somehow her feet would find the right path back to her sisters. With Leo's comfortable presence by her side, she just knew she'd find a way to fix this whole horrible mess until it was a nightmare no more.


End file.
